Is Your Home’s Value Declining? Maybe Not!

In an article dated August 6, 2008 in the San Francisco Chronicle, Chronicle staff writer James Temple wrote about the state of the housing market in the Golden State and the results of a confidence survey commissioned by real estate web site Zillow.

The point of the survey is that most homeowners feel their homes have increased or held steady in value, when the reality is that the majority of homes in the survey area have lost value during the recent real estate downturn.

While this article and survey focused on the San Francisco Bay area, the same loss of value in the housing market has been seen in many metropolitan areas across the nation. Texas, however, is a notable exception.

The Bryan and College Station markets have done especially well in regard to home value. According to data provided by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, the average and median prices for homes in the Bryan and College Station area have risen every year since 2002. In fact, the average home price in the Bryan and College Station market has risen by $42,500 since the year 2000.

The only market indicators that have seen any drop are number of sales and number of listings. However, that was only for one year. In 2007 only 66 fewer homes were sold compared to 2006. Even with a statistically insignificant decline in sales volume for 2007, dollar volume still rose by more than $10 million!

With 1,308 sales by the end of June 2008, the Bryan and College Station market is on track to meet or exceed the sales volume for the previous year!

The Bryan and College Station communities continue to be excellent places to live and invest. If you would like an opinion on the present value of your home, or if you plan to move or invest in our area, please contact Jason Johnston by email at JasonJ@Century21BCS.com.